Guide To Getting Started + Links For Advanced Users

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Introduction

Welcome To AirVPN!

This is a guide meant to help new people. Whether you're new to VPNs in general or just new to AirVPN.
I've tried to keep it fairly short, by using bullet points & spoiler tags. This hopefully also makes it more readable and less scary.
I think AirVPN is a FANTASTIC VPN and while I don't own or have any stake in AirVPN myself, I'm a huge supporter of it.
However, it can be quite scary and confusing to use when you first get started, so hopefully my little guide willl help you!

This guide also includes links to resources provided by Air and other users, but I don't mean to take credit for these things. So please feel free to scroll to the bottom of this guide!

AirVPN was said to be very technical and thus hard to use. But since it's such a quality VPN, I don't want that to always be the main bad side to this great service. Therefore, this guide is also a response to this problem, so that newcomers can hopefully feel less overwhelmed about the idea of the air to breathe the real Internet.

The Air staff clearly put in a lot of work every day and are extremely knowledgeable people, from all that I've seen. It's just that for newcomers, it can be hard and overwhelming finding all the relevant pieces of information and it can easily be too technical, so I hope my little guide will also be useful in that regard. This is also why, I collect other people's guides and put them in this guide, so that they're easier to find. However, Thank you to AirVPN, Staff and the many knowledgeable members of this community who help out people like myself quite a lot, through their contributions to the site everyday :]

Feel free to leave feedback on this guide, both good and bad, if you want to, because I'll happily read it !

So in short: No. But if you're new to VPNs in general and not a tech-savvy user, you do have to accept that you might be confused in the start. But this forum is here to help :].

Due to all the marketing and sometimes paid reviews, it can be hard to find out which VPN to trust at all. This is without even getting to the technical features. Air tends to somewhat pride itself on not overselling things however and so on the face of it, AirVPN can seem like it's no match for other, apparently bigger VPNs, but AirVPN has a lot to offer if you take a look.

Will I become totally anonymous or completely secure?

Please be aware that when using AirVPN or any VPN, while signed in to things such as your e-mail or other online accounts, you might get incorrectnotices of being hacked. You have not been hacked most likely, it's just that when services see you log in from several different IP addresses, they get suspicious. Simply keep calm and investigate the issue.

No, definitely not. But in terms of steps you can take to reach very high levels of privacy and security, this is one of the best steps you can take. Privacy and security are hard things.

To achieve even higher levels involves sorting out things like your operating system, browser, various habits and using networks like Tor, in addition to a VPN like this.

Security is hard. It's rarely, if ever, just a one-off solution. Often, security is as much a process, as it is about a single good product, like this VPN.

However. just because a VPN doesn't do everything, it doesn't mean it's useless. A lot depends on what you're trying to do/achieve and who your "enemies" are.

Yet it should be said, that AirVPN is quite extreme about security. For Air, it's "all or nothing" in many ways. AirVPN is so focused about security, that they even fix issues before they're published!

Support for the protocol known as IKEv2 is another example of where Air doesn't support something, but has good reasons for not doing so.

As a final example, you will sometimes see competitors speak of their super-secret "camouflage", "4Dstealth" or "hidden" protocols or servers. This is just marketing for gullible customers .

But such aforementioned marketing can greatly confuse efforts to compare Airs product with the competitors. So if in doubt, ask the competitor who is offering "stealth"-something, what it is.

If I use AirVPN, will I be able to use service XYZ with it?

Please be aware that when using AirVPN or any VPN, while signed in to things such as your e-mail or other online accounts, you might get incorrectnotices of being hacked. You have not been hacked most likely, it's just that when services see you log in from several different IP addresses, they get suspicious. Simply keep calm and investigate the issue.

Even services as normal as payment processors, such as PayPal don't always make things easy.

This means it's not always possible for a VPN provider to do anything about it. But we do have forums to discuss and notify AirVPN on, so that AirVPN can try to solve it as best as it can.

But before you post in that forum, make sure to Read This First, as it might help you & will make your posts more helpful to others.

AirVPN has a very useful tool called the Route Checking tool. It allows you to test access to a website from ALL AirVPN servers.

Just put in a full link in the search field and click the search button. Then press F5 or hit the refresh button in your browser. Green results usually mean there's access; red results mean the opposite.

This is useful for seeing if it's only you who has a problem or only the server you're on. As well as which servers don't have a problem, so that you can switch to using those ones instead.

It's most important that it's green in the "HTTP" column. There's many different HTTP Codes, so here's a list.

VPNs generally slow down your connection a little. But AirVPN is so good that it's still possible to play Multiplayer games through it, without your connection slowing down too much, in my own experience.

What does AirVPN do to make it safe to use and does it log or track people?

AirVPN isn't just safe because it promises to be so in its marketing. Instead, it backs things up with hard technical specifications and high standards, that you can verify yourself.

The timing of the sales is roughly the same each year as well. Simply keep an eye on the announcement forum to catch the sale.

What if you miss the sale you wanted? Well, then you'll just need to wait until the next one, unfortunately .

Getting Started With AirVPN

If you run into a problem with Airs software for some reason, then please make sure to check if there's an experimental version of the Eddie client you can download. Experimental versions aren't always available.

Number 1 is where you automatically generate the files that your VPN needs to work (if you don't use the Eddie Client, such as if you use Android), after you tick some boxes.

Number 2 allows you to tell the VPN which "ports" or "virtual doors" to open, which can speed up things such as your Bittorent client (qBittorent, uTorrent, Vuze, Transmission, etc.)
Even though it looks confusing, the only thing you actually need to change, is putting the right number in the "Local Port" field. So if your torrent program uses port 7634 for instance, then
you put 7634 into the "Local Port" field and simply click the green add button. Then a number will automatically be generated and put into the big white box at the top. All done.

Number 3 shows you the link you can share with other people. If they buy an AirVPN plan, you get 20% of what they pay. Then you can use this money to pay for your own plan.

Turning on Network Lock in the Eddie client will protect you from WebRTC leaks.

You can use AirVPNs own service called ipleak.net. Make sure it's .net and NOT .com.

Since ipleak.net is run by Air, it has now received its own sub-forum, where you can ask questions, give suggestions and receive information on any changes made to ipleak.

Un-configured, browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome will "leak" (show) your real IP address through a technology called "WebRTC".

To stop WebRTC, scroll to the bottom of the ipleak page and read the very short and simple instructions on how to fix it. It's not overly technical, don't worry.

If you torrent files, there's also a torrent on the same website, which you can download in order to test which IP other torrenters would see if you torrented a real file. It's recommended you use Free & Open Source Software(FOSS). With this client, you can make it bind itself to whichever network adapter is using the VPN, which is convenient, so that it only torrents when using a VPN.

I can recommend setting ipleak.net as your browser start page, so that every time you start your browser, you'll quickly be able to see if everything is working as intended.

Eddie can't connect or is very slow, what can I do?

If none of the below solutions work, then it's time to ask the forums or Air support. In BOTH cases, please supply your logs, as detailed before. Otherwise no one can help you.

Credits

inradius for his guide on how to use Air with Network Manager on Ubuntu/Mint

Omninegro for his pertinent guide on extensions.

The always crazily knowledgeable and helpful zhang888, whom I owe a lot to for all his work here. Thanks man.

Omniferums excellent guide on securing Windows.

pfSense_fans guide on how to use the excellent pfSense firewall software.

The always very friendly and helpful giganerd!

NaDre for his excellent torrenting guide.

neolefort for his Synology guide.

sheivoko's guide on using AirVPN through stunnel on Android

bigbrosbitch for starting a guide on mobile security

Zensen for his guide on how to autostart Eddie on Linux with Root

sagarbehere for his nice guide on how to set up Eddie on a Raspberry Pi 3

rainmakerraw for his mini-guides on improving torrent speeds and how to torrent.

lewisisonfire for his guide to fixing out Virgina Media-related issues and with nice pictures too.

Khariz, giganerd and ~Daniel~ for their helpful posts.

I hope the guide was of use! If you find any inaccuracies, feel free to tell me. I worked hours on this tiny guide, so I want it to be perfect haha.
I hope your experience with AirVPN will be a good one! Mine certainly has been. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.Thank you for reading :]

P.S. I consider myself pretty savvy, but I remember being confused when I got here. So I can only imagine how it is for less savvy individuals.
P.P.S. I know it lacks images, but images do evil things to my spoilers, lol.

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Thanks for putting this guide together, I certainly hope that it gives new users a running start to the service

PS: I would add something regarding the fact that server geolocation, particularly with Google is almost never accurate due to the nature of VPN's and Googles shitty IP database system (as well as some errors with maxmind and other services aka server vendor country instead of physical location etc.)

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Four simple things:There's a guide to AirVPN. Before you ask questions, take 30 minutes of your time to go through it.Amazon IPs are not dangerous here. It's the fallback DNS.Running TOR exits is discouraged. They're subject to restrictions on the internet and harm all AirVPN users.

Furthermore, I propose that your paranoia is to be destroyed. If you overdo privacy, you'll be unique among the mass again.

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LZ1 - sensational work. I wish I'd had this when I first starting looking into VPNs! For some time I've been thinking it would be sooooo useful for so many people to have a guide like this. And now it's here! N00bs will be very grateful, as will the rest of the community, which won't have to be reading the same newbie questions, repeated over and over again. This needs to be stickied for sure.

Four simple things:There's a guide to AirVPN. Before you ask questions, take 30 minutes of your time to go through it.Amazon IPs are not dangerous here. It's the fallback DNS.Running TOR exits is discouraged. They're subject to restrictions on the internet and harm all AirVPN users.

Furthermore, I propose that your paranoia is to be destroyed. If you overdo privacy, you'll be unique among the mass again.

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Thank you, I added it. I've already added a ton of links since I first started the thread 2 days ago. Mostly at the later stages of the guide. I'm almost satisfied lol. Almost...There's so many good threads which have relevant and interesting content, which have been left to die. So it's nice to be able to list some of them. It's great that Air funds various other projects. I really like that they run their own Tor nodes.

Four simple things:There's a guide to AirVPN. Before you ask questions, take 30 minutes of your time to go through it.Amazon IPs are not dangerous here. It's the fallback DNS.Running TOR exits is discouraged. They're subject to restrictions on the internet and harm all AirVPN users.

Furthermore, I propose that your paranoia is to be destroyed. If you overdo privacy, you'll be unique among the mass again.

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I mostly just lurk, but wanted to mention that this guide should prove to be a pretty useful index for individuals who are new to the topic of VPNs and their usage generally. Thanks for putting it together.

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I mostly just lurk, but wanted to mention that this guide should prove to be a pretty useful index for individuals who are new to the topic of VPNs and their usage generally. Thanks for putting it together.

Well I thank you for breaking the silence to tell me this, as I put a lot of effort into making it. I'm glad the number of edits don't seem to show, as it's criminally high lol. I hope the guide

helps more advanced users too, in terms of finding stuff, since it easily gets lost around here. Anyhow, thanks a lot !!

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As I get more familiar with the options and configurations, I do have one more question in addition to the great summaries above. When using the configure generator and selecting individual servers vice countries, what are the most important stats to look at to determine the how fast the connection would be if a particular server is selected? There is a wealth of data available on each server and not sure I am paying attention to the right things as I try to evaluate what might work best.

Right now I tend to default to those with a higher in/out bits per second average rating in the traffic graph, but have know idea if this really means anything as far as the speed of that connection.

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Thanks for posting this guide! As a newbie (7 days), I've been working with the default settings. Following your advice, I've decided to implement the "Connect at Startup", "Activate Network Lock at Startup" and "Start with Windows" options, and I've also increased the TCP/UDP send/receive buffer sizes to 256 KB. More importantly, perhaps, I've fixed the leaky connection in Firefox, so my true IP address is now properly hidden, as confirmed by the test page. As you say in your guide, the instructions are very simple to follow! Now I need to check whether my default browser - Internet Explorer - is leaky. (I know... but I grew up with it, and I'm still fond of it.)

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Apologies for taking so long. I recommend just picking a category, such as a region of the world and going with that. The Air client will then automatically select the best server at the time (it fluctuates).

It should be said that it's hard, if not impossible perhaps, to give precise numbers for speeds.But in general, you would want to:

Pick the server/region or country closest to you, because distance matters. However there's also cases where some countries simply have better infrastructure than others. Korea might have good internal networking for instance,

Yet still not be a country which is good to connect to or via, speed-wise, due to how they and their various companies, like ISPs, handle connections.

Then you should look at the load/state of a server, if you're picking individual servers; although I don't recommend this. Go for ones with lower amounts of load.

Time of day also plays a part, since many ISPs have bottlenecks during daytime, while at night the connection might improve a lot.

You also select the server with more bits per second (usage), when you should be doing the exact opposite .

Do also pick the UDP protocol to start with and check out the other tips for optimizing the connection, as seen in the "After downloading Eddie" section.

Naturally there's also your own hardware setup & internet speeds to consider. Things like whether or not your router is good enough; especially if you run the VPN on it directly.

There's also the software. Windows has a lot of issues with TAP drivers. So do check out the section on if Eddie is slow.

At any rate, I urge you to just go for it. You can always change your confirguation later. Especially after having done a few speedtests on the site .

I hope this helps. Welcome to AirVPN

@after_lunch

Hello ! I'm very pleased to see that! I did hope that it was simple to follow. Also, you could disable IE entirely if you wish, haha. Then just run Windows in a Virtual Machine, for when you miss it haha!

Although you might be interested in knowing there's actually a Firefox extension that apparently makes FF look like IE, haha. Something to consider!

Do feel free to share your experiences later on, as I hope it's smooth sailing for you, here on out. Welcome to AirVPN, enjoy the ride!

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According to ipleak.net, IE is not leaky, so I won't have to abandon it just yet! I will certainly check out the Firefox extension, though.

I had my first "connect to Air VPN at startup" this morning, which went very well. I was expecting to see a blank screen for ages, but the system went straight to the Windows (8.1) desktop as quickly as before, and only then was there a slight delay while Air VPN launched. Definitely safer, given my poor memory!

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If I read this recommendation in my first weeks at AirVPN, I would definitely go with the servers closer to my location. Today I would connect to servers with the least hops to my ISP, because the less hops you've got in between the better your latency is. Geographic distance (I think it's called euklidean distance?) does not play a very important role in times of fibre cables.

Four simple things:There's a guide to AirVPN. Before you ask questions, take 30 minutes of your time to go through it.Amazon IPs are not dangerous here. It's the fallback DNS.Running TOR exits is discouraged. They're subject to restrictions on the internet and harm all AirVPN users.

Furthermore, I propose that your paranoia is to be destroyed. If you overdo privacy, you'll be unique among the mass again.

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According to ipleak.net, IE is not leaky, so I won't have to abandon it just yet! I will certainly check out the Firefox extension, though.

I had my first "connect to Air VPN at startup" this morning, which went very well. I was expecting to see a blank screen for ages, but the system went straight to the Windows (8.1) desktop as quickly as before, and only then was there a slight delay while Air VPN launched. Definitely safer, given my poor memory!

Haha, this is good to hear! I'm glad it worked out for you! :]

Have you done a speed test yet? The results can be quite positively surprising.

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Actually, I found the speed test on the first day of my trial. I was impressed with the test results, and they've held up in the real world! With VPN off, I get a fairly constant 55 Mbps from my up to 70 Mbps service. With AirVPN on, I can download from filehosts at a top speed of about 45 Mbps. That's almost twice the speed I was getting from HMA, and, since I've recently been starting with 40-50 GB in the download queue, it is a very welcome improvement. An unexpected bonus, too: I switched to Air just for the added security.

As regards Internet Explorer, the Firefox extension is a bust - it's not updated for the current Firefox version. However, I've decided to dump IE anyway: two sites I visit regularly are written for Firefox; several others seem to become unstable with IE (frozen screens; disappearing tabs). I've even discovered that the AirVPN forums don't work properly with IE: I can't copy and paste text into posts when using IE, but there's no problem when using Firefox. So I've set Firefox as my default browser, imported my IE favourites, and synced my two main PCs - only a temporary measure while I'm still constructing Bookmarks Menu folders.

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Oh damn, that's excellent. It's quite funny when reading articles on VPNs and they're like "Your speed will suffer" and then you do a speedtest here and it's almost better than your non-VPN speeds lol.

I don't know which version of IE you use, but it's generally a hated browser; especially old versions. In the old days, it was a complete nightmare coding for IE. Windows 10 has the next evolution of

IE, called Edge. Maybe you'd like that. Although you'll rarely get much support for using any browser from MS I think. Most people are either firmly on Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox these days.

For the maximum amount of privacy, it should go without saying that Google should be avoided whenever possible, generally speaking . You could set ipleak.net as your FF start page too if you want,

so that you'll be able to confirm everything is likely working fine; just a suggestion. Enjoy.